clear vinyl

[Tonz]

anyone protected their paint job with DIY clear vinyl

[chrisc9]

Hi Tonz. Its not a DIY job, but I have had the nose and bonnet covered in the 3M clear vinyl which is marketed as a scratch and stone-chip protector. Its hard to pick from more than about 2 meters away, and so far has prevented any chips appearing. I do mainly country k's as well. My missus' corolla is about the same age and same number of k's, and it has heaps of chips. I'm glad I had it done, mate.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by Tonz

anyone protected their paint job with DIY clear vinyl

I was looking for a colour matched vinyl earlier but didn't follow up.
For me, a couple of my vehicles are already stone chipped so clear wouldn't work.
I wonder how well it would protect ?

[GO FURTHER]

Just bear in mind, that if you enjoy waxing your car, fitting clear vinyl protection will mean finding another pass time.

[Tonz]

It's not on top of my list but I do enjoy it. just amount of country driving I do, stone chips are a costant pain, trying to eliminate them mainly

[.:4:.]

Clear vynal is sacrificial. You wreck the first one but save the paint and then replace it. Or atleast that's the idea. The vynal takes the stones but it's not a shield per say like a car bra but it will help resale when the car still has better paint then if it wasn't vynaled.

[GO FURTHER]

If instead you decide on a car bra... You'll need something for the back.

[Tonz]

yesterday I said nice things about you. now your a sick puppy

[solarite_guy]

The one down side is if you want to remove it, a difference in the coloration of the paint under it and that which wasn't covered can become more noticeable.

When I owned my panel beater and spray shop a regular customer came in with a used S2000 he had just purchased and wanted the vinyl removed. It was a red car. We warned him of the potential problem. He still wanted it off. We removed it. There was a noticeable difference. Not a big difference, but noticeable. He was happy the vinyl was gone and paid to have the front clip re-sprayed.

I hate spraying over factory paint unless there are absolutely no other options.

[GO FURTHER]

Here's a good video on how car protective films work and those that have self healing abilities.

[ronwest]

If you're going to clear vinyl use only good quality (read: expensive) vinyl.

I hate stone chips and as my car is used exclusively for our road trips (other than a weekly drive to Bunnings or wherever) I tried the cheaper stuff.

Basically the cheaper stuff doesn't stretch as easily (if at all) and is a bugger to install over edges, curves, etc.

In any event, I bought a car bra but because the VF2 bonnet is quite angular in places I cut the vinyl I previously bought into strips and install along bonnet, front bar ridges/edges (to prevent car bra rubbing).

Takes about an hour to do so I'm happy with that and after 20K kms of road trips there's not a mark on the car.

edit: After a couple of goes with the cheaper vinyl, I bought some 3m vinyl to do the mirror scalps - much easier to use than cheaper stuff

[xisled]

I wouldn't do the front only of your car.

If you want clear get the whole car done.

Also look at a hexis product called bodyfence.

[stock1991]

I wouldn't do any of it, OK your going to get chips but that's better than wrapping the car in clear plastic imo

[roKWiz]

In my case I would like to vinyl colour match these top panels as I'm sick of repainting them on three trucks, bra wouldn't work as I would like signwriting to stand out, not to keen on a sign written bra.